Orientation week
An orientation week was organized for all international students during the first week of our stay. So we got to know many people of different nationalities.
The highlights of the week were, among others, visiting the amazing Huntington Cliffs, but we had to find them first, so we asked for directions. We got an amazingly uninformative but still friendly description of the way as follows: “Go that way, and when the road ends, keep going”. No sooner said than done, we walked down the designated street, which had some beautiful old wooden houses with large windows and gardens, until we reached its end.
At that time there was a lot of snow, so we could not see a path or anything similar. Nevertheless, we followed the directions and entered the forest ahead. The path was slippery and steep, but it paid off to conquer it. The cliffs were not particularly high, but the view was amazing.
On the way back, we realized how slippery it really was. A car had not come to a stop on the hillside between the college and the cliffs and slid into the driveway of one of the adjacent houses onto a car that was parked there.
Walmart
During our first week, we visited Walmart to stock up on consumables if necessary. Right away, the prejudice that everything is bigger in America is true. The drinks, for example, the orange juice was only available in 2 liters and up and also the offers for meat were on average twice as big as I was used to in Germany. And I thought it was already hard to cook in Germany as a single household. Over here, from the ingredients one buys, one can probably cook and enjoy the same dish every day for a week, yay!
Funny enough, you can buy everything at Walmart, clothes, bikes, edibles, even firearms. But to our amazement we didn’t get any alcohol, no alcohol at all. But instead, you can equip a team here to rob a bank.
Baker
The Cafeteria here is quite an improvement compared to the one I’m used to in Steinfurt. You decide on a meal plan and it contains a set amount of meals and an allowance that you can also use for snacks.
Most of the time you get a meal plan with enough meals for 1-3 free meals per day. The procedure is as follows, you pay with one “meal” in Baker and then enter a large hall with an “all you can eat” buffet. The selection offered feels pretty large, from a salad bar to hot dogs or pizza to an Asian skillet, you can put together quite a bit yourself.
Alcohol
Since we didn’t get anything at Walmart, we looked around for the nearest liquor store. Here, too, everything was available in larger portions. Who does not always buy bottles with half a gallon or more of liquor? We definitely need those! The bottles even have a handle so that can pour at all.
Road Trip to Mechanicsburg
We also took a small, 2h road trip to Mechanicsburg, where we were invited by Mariah’s sister, Ashley, for dinner.
I’m sure my vegetarian sister would have had her fun too, as we were treated to delicious vegan hamburgers. 😋
